I Will Give You the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven

I Will Give You the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven

February 22, 2013

Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle

By Melanie Rigney

Tend the flock of God in your midst, overseeing not by constraint but willingly, as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly. Do not lord it over those assigned to you, but be examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. (1 Peter 5:2-4)

The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. (Psalms 23:1)

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 16:13-19)

Piety

Almighty God, you have given us the witnessing of the apostles as the firm rock on which we can rely. Where Peter is, there is the Church. But we see today that the bark of Peter is rocked; we are often like capricious children unused to our new-found freedom. Make us use this freedom responsibly and do not allow us to lose our composure. Reassure us that you are always with us and keep us optimistic about the future, for it is your future and you are our rock for ever. (Retrieved from lectio divina at the Order of Carmelites’ site, http://ocarm.org/en/content/lectio/lectio-chair-saint-peter-apostle)

Study

Here we are, on the precipice of our Church leaders discerning who will be the next man to sit in Peter’s chair, that is, to have the daunting responsibility of leading this fractious international flock. It’s all but a given that Benedict XVI’s successor will be a sitting cardinal, and thus will have some idea of what he’s getting into.

Consider, by contrast, Peter’s situation. He correctly states Jesus’ complete identity, and the response he receives is a new name that translates to “rock” and a promise the likely seemed perplexing: “Upon this rock I will build my church.” What did Peter know about building? He was a fisherman, not a carpenter. He was a literalist; consider his comments at the transfiguration. What could this mean, that a church would be built upon him? Perhaps he just shrugged it off as yet another of those things his friend liked to say that made little or no sense.

And yet, when the time came, Peter rose to the occasion. Christ was right; he couldn’t have chosen a more solid, on-fire follower to lead the Church through its challenging early days. And so, as the Holy Spirit descends unto the cardinals, let us pray that the man among them who is called to assume the papacy will be inspired to lead as Peter did—as a shepherd eager and willing to serve as an example to the flock.

Action

Pray that the Holy Spirit will wisely guide the members of the conclave as they debate and discern who will next sit in Peter’s chair.